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Funds dwindle for three power generating PSUs

TNN | Updated: Feb 2, 2018, 07:48 IST

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CHENNAI: Just when the country is planning big reforms in the energy sector with a focus on green power, budget allocation to three Central PSUs in the energy sector based in Tamil Nadu has been lowered in the 2018-19 budget. Of the three units, two are green power units. Biggest of the three is NLC India Ltd, whose allocation has come down from Rs 4,578.01 crore to Rs 4,298.69 crore.
Similarly, the allocation for Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam near Chennai has also been lowered for the coming financial year, besides that of the National Wind Energy Institute.

NLC India based in Neyveli in Cuddalore district is the only Central unit which is generating power with lignite as fuel. The company, which has a Mahanavaratna status, is also into solar as well as wind power generation. The allocation has come down in the present budget when there is a proposal to disinvest the government’s stake in the company.

"NLC is a profit-making company and our party is always against disinvestment. When the DMK was part of the UPA government at Centre, we said we will walk out of the government if the Centre went ahead with its proposal for disinvestment," said DMK Rajya MP T K S Elangovan.

NLC officials said that after they received the Mahanavaratna status, the government had asked them not to depend on Central funds. "We have thermal, solar and wind power projects in the pipeline. We are one of the PSUs making profit. At the same time, we need funds for expansion of mines and for new projects. Extra allocation would have been helpful for the company," said a senior company official not ready to be named. IGCAR’s allocation has come down from Rs 485 crore to Rs 476.20 crore. The Centre has R&D activities, encompassing hydraulic studies and reactor engineering studies of reactor components, sodium instrumentation, material development and characterization. The centre has undertaken various strategically important projects to develop mature fast breeder fuel cycle technologies with international standards.

"The allocation from the budget is only for local research expenditure and not for fast breeder reactor. The government must have spoken to the atomic energy department about the allocation. The government will not stop us from overshooting the allocation," said an IGCAR official.

The National Wind Energy Institute will see a lower allocation to the extent of Rs 3 crore. "The institute is into research in wind power. At present, we have offshore wind projects. This year we submitted a lower budget as the offshore wind units will take time. The lowering of the budget will not hit our work," said a senior NWEI official.

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